Thursday, May 28, 2026

Guest Opinion | Elbie J. Hickambottom Jr.: Turning Al Lowe’s Legacy Upside Down

Sierra Madre Mayor Kristine Lowe, niece of Al Lowe, who served as PUSD Board President during the 1970s conflict over busing, invoked his legacy at last week’s PUSD Board meeting. Mayor Lowe presented herself as in tune with her uncle’s legacy as she leads the charge to recall current PUSD President Tina Fredericks. The irony is that Mayor Lowe turns her uncle’s legacy upside down from what he stood for.

What Al Lowe stood for

When Al Lowe passed away, Larry Wilson in the Pasadena Star-News described him as “the man who saved Pasadena.” Al Lowe deserves that accolade because he was Board president at the most difficult time in PUSD history. PUSD was the first northern school district ordered by federal courts to integrate its schools through busing. Reactionary forces in the district’s constituency wanted to follow the George Wallace recipe for resisting racial integration.

Without hesitation, Al Lowe made the hard choice to assemble a board majority, implement a plan to integrate through busing and comply with the court order.

Thursday, May 28, 2026

New California Law Bans Law Enforcement from Interfering in State Elections

By Maya C. Miller, CALMATTERS

Law enforcement officers will be banned from interfering with California elections under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday, just in time for the June 2 primary election.

The law, which takes effect immediately, criminalizes the act of taking cast ballots from the custody of a local election official, as gubernatorial candidate Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco did earlier this year when he seized more than 600,000 ballots from his own county’s registrar of voters. Although Bianco claimed he was checking for proof of fraudulent voting, there was no evidence to suggest any ballots were cast improperly.

“We have to step up, and we have to draw the line. We have to clarify the rules of engagement,” Newsom told reporters before signing the legislation. “It’s a warning to the folks out there that think they can do the bidding of the Trump administration.”

State lawmakers originally introduced the measure, Senate Bill 73,

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Who’s Ahead In The California Governor Race?

By Lynn La, CALMATTERS

Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton are holding on to the lead in the latest poll ahead of the California governor election.

That’s according to the Public Policy Institute of California, which surveyed 986 likely voters earlier this month. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed (23%) said they’d vote for Becerra, followed by Hilton at 20%, Tom Steyer at 15%, Chad Bianco at 13% and Katie Porter at 12%.

Some Californians are watching governor polls in part to decide how they’ll vote. The state’s open primary allows the top two vote-getters to advance to November regardless of party, and for several months Republicans Hilton and Bianco appeared to have a shot at locking Democrats out of the ballot.

Becerra, the former state attorney general and health secretary to former President Joe Biden, began to pull ahead after U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Latino Eaton Fire Survivors in Pasadena, Altadena the Focus of New Outreach Effort

A coalition of wildfire attorneys says many Latino survivors in Pasadena and Altadena still have not sought compensation — and time is running out. 

LA Fire Justice, a coalition of wildfire attorneys, fire–origin experts and insurance specialists, will hold a Thursday press conference at El Portal Restaurant in Pasadena to reach Latino families who lost homes, income or stability in the January 2025 blaze. 

The event will take place in the dining room of owner and Eaton Fire survivor Abel Ramirez, whose popular restaurant sits near the Pasadena Playhouse. 

The outreach effort — titled “No Te Hemos Olvidado” (“we have not forgotten you”) — is meant to reach Latino survivors who, more than a year later, have not asked whether they may be owed compensation. 

LA Fire Justice is led by Chris Holden, a former Pasadena mayor and state Assemblymember, and has represented Eaton Fire clients and operated a Pasadena office since shortly after the fire. 

Latino families disproportionately affected,

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Blair Supporters Rally Today as PUSD Board Moves School Closures Process Forward

The advisory committee voted down all six consolidation proposals, but the board retains authority to act before a June 25 vote

Blair High School parents and students plan to rally at 4:30 p.m. outside PUSD headquarters at 351 S. Hudson Ave. before the board’s regular meeting, urging the board to keep Blair High and Middle Schools open amid deliberations on campus closures.

The rally is organized by Save Blair, a parent-led campaign not officially affiliated with the school or its administration, according to the group’s website.

Organizers say they are hoping for 100 supporters to attend and speak during the board meeting’s public comment period.

The campaign has also circulated a Change.org petition that it says has gathered more than 1,500 signatures. The campaign is urging the board to reject closure proposals, pause major decisions, and explore alternatives that preserve programs.

At the meeting, the district will present the School Consolidation Advisory Committee’s findings and a draft equity impact analysis on potential campus closures.

Thursday, May 28, 2026

The Emails That Lit the Fuse: How Released Records Ignited Pasadena’s School-Closure Firestorm

The public-records controversy and recall efforts are driven by Brown Act allegations ahead of Thursday’s PUSD board meeting

As the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education convenes Thursday for the next public phase of its school-consolidation review, the meeting arrives in the shadow of an email controversy that has reshaped the debate over closing Pasadena-area campuses — and triggered an active campaign to recall two sitting trustees.

As the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education convenes Thursday for the next public phase of its school-consolidation review,

Thursday’s Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education meeting arrives in the shadow of an email controversy that has reshaped the debate over closing Pasadena-area campuses — and triggered threats to recall two sitting trustees.

The records were originally obtained through Public Records Act requests by a Pasadena Unified parent who supplied them to local media.

The email records appear to show that Board President Tina Fredericks developed a consolidation proposal months before the district formally hired an outside consultant.

Thursday, May 28, 2026

PUSD Board Meeting Thrusts School Closures, Board Elections, Brown Act Accusations and Recall Plans into Single Public Forum

The public comments portion of meeting likely to be dramatic after weeks of controversy over Board member emails

The Pasadena Board of Education is scheduled Thursday to take up the next stage of its school-consolidation process at a meeting that will almost certainly include passionate pleas to keep their schools open from parents and students, Brown Act violation accusations, and emerging efforts to recall sitting several board members.

The meeting is not scheduled to hear a final vote on school closures. But the agenda places several of the most contentious issues now surrounding the district on the same night: a board-member statement regarding email records disclosures, a presentation by Total School Solutions on a draft Equity Impact Analysis about campus closures, a public hearing on that analysis, and a board discussion of next steps in the consolidation process.

The result is a meeting that may test whether PUSD can continue moving through the scheduled formal school-closure review while public confidence in the process remains under strain.

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Altadena Community to Unveil Largest Mural Since Eaton Fire

Leaders of the Altadena community will gather on Sunday afternoon,  May 31, 2026, to celebrate the unveiling of its largest mural to date—a sweeping tribute  to the history of Mt. Lowe and the storied railroads that once carried visitors into the San  Gabriel Mountains.

Created by artist Austin Scott and commissioned by Waleed and Erin Delawari, From  Rails to Trails: Echo Mountain is the result of an extraordinary collaborative effort  involving more than 80 community volunteers. More than a historical depiction, the  piece serves as a symbol of unity and resilience in the wake of the Eaton Fire, inviting  the fire-affected community to heal through shared creativity and storytelling.

The mural is painted on the back of the Delawari family’s newly built wall, where a wood  fence used to stand, facing the Altadena Crest Trail just west of the Cobb Estate.  Waleed and Erin lost their family home and one of their beloved goats in the Eaton Fire,  in which they raised their four children.

Thursday, May 28, 2026

LA County Public Health Unveils Heat-Related Illness Dashboard

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced Wednesday the launch of a new dashboard tracking heat-related illnesses and deaths across the county as officials prepare for the region’s hottest months of the year.

The Heat-Related Illness and Mortality Dashboard provides data on emergency department visits and deaths linked to heat exposure, allowing public health officials and communities to monitor the effects of extreme heat by region and demographic group, according to the department.

“Extreme heat is becoming more frequent and severe, making heat- related illness an increasing concern especially for older adults, young children, outdoor workers, and people with underlying health conditions,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. “This dashboard gives us timely, local insight into who is most affected and where, helping Public Health and our partners take targeted action.”

The dashboard includes daily emergency department visit rates during heat season from May through October, along with daily high temperatures recorded in downtown Los Angeles.

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Altadena Businesses Get Free Marketing Help as Fire Recovery Drags On

County program offers website builds, social media support, and storefront facelifts to shops still struggling nearly a year and a half after the Eaton Fire

The storefronts that survived the Eaton Fire are still standing. The customers, in many cases, are not back yet.

A new county program announced Tuesday aims to help change that, offering Altadena small businesses free, individualized marketing support from building websites and running social media campaigns to installing new signage and painting murals on their walls. Enrollment in the Shop Local Marketing Lab+ is open through June 8, according to a press release from Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office.

The program is led by the LA County Department of Economic Opportunity and supported by partnerships with Google and SoCal Grantmakers, the regional philanthropic association. It is the latest component of the county’s broader “Shop Local. Dine Local. Recover Local.” campaign, which Barger launched in July 2025 to stabilize brick-and-mortar businesses in the unincorporated community that had lost foot traffic and revenue after the January 2025 fire.